


A Promise

by kiyala



Category: Kuroko no Basuke
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 01:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14461854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: Himuro is at university in Tokyo, and Murasakibara calls him at two o'clock in the morning.





	A Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "2am phone call"

It's two o'clock in the morning when Tatsuya's phone starts to ring. 

He's awake, but only just barely. The ringing startles him out of his thoughts, his papers scattering across his bed as he sits up a little straighter, patting his hands over the sheets to find his phone, swiping his thumb across the bottom of the screen to answer it without a second thought. There are few people that he sets specific ring tones for, and there's only one person in the world that this particular one is reserved for.

"Atsushi," he greets with a smile that probably carries in his voice. "You're up late."

There's a silence, and then a soft, "Ah, whoops. I forgot to look at the time. Did I wake you?"

"Not at all," Tatsuya laughs. "I was working on an assignment. Isn't it past curfew for you? Won't you get in trouble?" 

"I'll be quiet," Atsushi replies, and Tatsuya shouldn't even be surprised that it doesn't bother him that it's two o'clock on a school night, and he has basketball training the next morning. "I won't get in trouble." 

"If you say so," Tatsuya laughs. "You're a third year now, Atsushi. You have to set a good example for the rest of the team. If Araki-sensei yells at you in front of the rest of the team for being too tired tomorrow morning, that's not going to look good. Especially when you're the captain."

"And who's fault is that?" Atsushi grumbles. "I never asked to be captain, did I? You just kind of dumped the job on me and left. I don't care about that sort of thing." 

"I just wanted to make sure that the team was in good hands," Tatsuya replies, leaning back against his wall. "So, why are you calling anyway?"

Atsushi doesn't reply, the silence stretching out for so long that Tatsuya checks the screen just to make sure that they haven't accidentally dropped the call. Finally, he exhales loudly. "I missed you."

"Atsushi?" 

"Don't make me say it again," Atsushi grumbles, and he sounds so petulant that Tatsuya can just imagine him sticking his lower lip out in a pout with his cheeks puffed, the way he always does when he's a little embarrassed by his honesty. Tatsuya would laugh, but his heart suddenly feels too heavy for the sound to make its way out. 

"I miss you too," he says softly. "I miss you a lot, Atsushi."

"It was a mistake," Atsushi declares, "spending all of my time with you. I don't know how to be around other people any more. I don't know how to be on my own. It's your fault."

This time, Tatsuya does laugh. He shuts his eyes, feeling a rush of fondness that he is no stranger to. "My bad, Atsushi. I'm sorry."

"You know how you can make it up to me?" Atsushi asks. "Buy me snacks next time I visit Tokyo."

"Oh?" Tatsuya grins. "And when is that going to be? You have a tournament to train for, don't you? I don't think you're going to get a free weekend any time soon." 

He's met with silence again. He checks that he hasn't accidentally ended the call again, and then waits. He knows that Atsushi needs time to gather his thoughts, especially when he's being honest, and Tatsuya is already surprised by the sheer amount of honesty so far in this phone call. Atsushi will probably blame it on the fact that he's tired later, and Tatsuya knows that he'll let it slide, like he so often does. 

Atsushi draws a breath and, to Tatsuya's surprise, sounds upset when he says, "Did you have to say it like that?"

"Like what, Atsushi?" 

"Like I'm not going to see you for a long time," Atsushi replies. He grumbles at the back of his throat, clearly unhappy by the prospect. "You make it sounds like I'm not going to see you until after the Inter-high is over. That's too far away. I don't want to wait that long." 

"Atsushi…" Tatsuya says softly.

"Why do you have to be a year older than me anyway?" Atsushi continues. "It's unfair, Muro-chin. You're so unfair. I hate it."

Tatsuya sighs, tilting his head back so it's resting against the wall, and looks up at the ceiling. "We talked about this, Atsushi. Before I graduated, and afterwards too."

"You might as well have gone back to America," Atsushi grumbles. "Except I don't want that. I wouldn't even be able to call you, and there would be time differences and it would be even worse than now."

"Atsushi," Tatsuya interrupts. "Breathe. You're raising your voice." 

"Right." Atsushi sighs loudly. "Sorry." 

Tatsuya smiles sadly. Just a year ago, and hearing Atsushi apologise and actually mean it would have been an impossible concept. He's grown so much in the time that they've known each other, and Tatsuya wonders just much he'll grow in the year to come. "I just don't want you to get in trouble."

"You're lucky," Atsushi tells him. "You don't get curfews or anything like that at university. I bet you can go to the shops as often as you want and get as many snacks as you like."

"I don't think the school rules ever stopped you from doing that," Tatsuya laughs. "I bet you still go, no matter how many times Coach yells at you."

"It's not as much fun any more," Atsushi says. "There are so many new snacks in the store now, and I don't get to share any of them with you." 

Tatsuya thinks back to his last visit to the shop on the corner of his street, how he'd walked through the aisles looking at the different food options, turning to his side to make a comment only to find no one standing there. He gives the ceiling a tight-lipped smile, knowing that Atsushi won't see it. 

"Yeah," he agrees. "It's no fun doing it alone." 

"I bet you have friends, though. You're always so popular, I bet you have a whole group of people who want to spend their time with you." Atsushi sounds jealous, but Tatsuya doesn't call him out on it. "I think everyone at school is scared of me."

"It's because you're so big," Tatsuya laughs. "And you're always so grumpy. Who's going to talk to you when you're sulking so much?" 

"You did."

Tatsuya remembers the very first day that he met Atsushi, on his first day of practice with the rest of the basketball team, and he still remembers being determined not to let someone so big intimidate him. Except then he actually spoke to Atsushi couldn't find a single reason why everyone else found him intimidating at all. The rest came easily enough after that, but perhaps it came too easily. Atsushi is right; it was a mistake to spend so much of their time together because Tatsuya's still too used to it to adjust to anything different and that's something he can't go back to. Not when Atsushi is still in Akita and he's at university all the way here in Tokyo. Not when there's still an entire year to get through before Atsushi graduates and even then, there's no guarantee that he'll move to Tokyo to, or that they'll still be close enough to want to spend their time together. 

"You're thinking too hard," Atsushi accuses. "You've been quiet for too long. I know you. You're definitely thinking too hard."

"Guilty," Tatsuya grins. "…I miss you, Atsushi." 

"You already said that," Atsushi points out, and then after a moment, adds, "I don't mind if you say it again, though." 

" _I miss you_ ," Tatsuya laughs, but his heart hurts too much to ignore it and what he really means is something else entirely, but he isn't sure that it's something he wants to say at two o'clock in the morning, when he doesn't even know the next time he'll see Atsushi again. It doesn't matter, when it's all going to go right over Atsushi's head anyway because he doesn't do subtlety and he doesn't really understand it either. It's just going to be something that will sit with Tatsuya, until he's brave enough to put it into proper words, or do something about it. 

"…You're so annoying, Muro-chin," Atsushi mutters. 

"Me?" 

"If you're going to say something, then say it properly," Atsushi tells him. "I called you at two o'clock in the morning because I couldn't stop thinking about you, didn't I? You're always like this. You say one thing when you mean something else."

"Do I?" Tatsuya asks, deflecting instinctively. "What do you want me to say, then?"

"What you really mean, when you say that you miss me," Atsushi tells him. "Or that it's not as much fun going shopping on your own. Just tell me if you mean the same thing that I do."

"Well then," Tatsuya says, his heart hammering in his chest, "maybe you should tell me what you mean instead."

"Muro-chin, this is embarrassing," Atsushi protests. 

Tatsuya laughs. "It's embarrassing for me too."

"You're not embarrassed by anything," Atsushi retorts. "You're too American for that." 

Tatsuya laughs louder this time, then quickly covers his mouth to make sure he doesn't disturb his roommates. "Here I thought you didn't have any shame either. I guess there are things that even you can't say."

"Fine," Atsushi says, and Tatsuya adores how quickly he rises to the bait. "I'll say it, then. I'll say that I miss you every day. That basketball isn't as much fun when I'm not playing with you, that nothing's as much fun when I'm not doing it with you. How I don't want to wait until after the Inter-high to see you again and sometimes I just want to get on the train after practice so I can see you again. I don't miss anyone else like this. Just you. You're special, Muro-chin. I like you, more than anyone else. Are you happy now?" 

"Yeah," Tatsuya replies, his voice coming out softer than he expects it to. He can't stop smiling, to the point that his cheeks are hurting. He supposes it's one thing to know that Atsushi cares for him, and another thing entirely to actually hear it. "I like you too, Atsushi. Hurry up and make it to the Inter-high, and I'll watch your games." 

"Promise?" Atsushi asks. "…And promise we can buy snacks together too?" 

"Yeah." Tatsuya surprises himself by just how much he's looking forward to it already. "It's a promise."


End file.
